The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Matthew Joseph Bruccoli, Scott F. Fitzgerald (1995, Paperback, Reprint)

Nick Carraway is our main character. He is a young man who graduated from New Haven, went in to the war, came out, and moved from the West to Long Island Sound's West Egg Village. He now makes a meager income selling Bonds. His neighbor is the supremely rich Mr. Gatsby, whom nobody seems to know much about, but whom everybody whose anybody has been to his outlandish parties. Just across the bay is the distinguished East Egg, where Nick has a cousin Daisy. He often visits her and her husband Tom, their small child, and their friend, the golf star, Miss Carraway. Tom also is supremely rich, and it turns out he keeps a mistress. Poor Nick is the unwilling observer to all. He becomes Gatsby's friend and finds that Gatsby has been chasing the past for several years. He is in love with Daisy, and in fact dated her 5 years ago. This all sounds a bit too romantic, but I promise you that between the alcohol and party antics, you will be kept interested. Borne back ceaselessly into the past indeed. At the end, tragically, the mystery of Gatsby is unraveled. A beautifully woven novel.